Land/Sea Trip Report - I *Promise* to Inform and *Hope* to Entertain!

[Crystal_27]

Hi, I've really been enjoying your TR. I have a couple of questions for you.

First of all, love the pics of your daughter and her makeover. Maybe this is a silly questions but did you bring that dress in the pics yourself or did you buy the castle package and that's the dress that come with? Love the dress and I'm looking for one for my 4 year old DD. Did she wear it at the park just a little bit or just when you got there?

Thank you so much, Pammy!! We actually bought the dress at The Disney Store before we left, and brought it with us. This dress was the "deluxe" Cinderella dress for Halloween 2007, and I liked that the deluxe dresses don't have the princess icons right at the top of the dress (of course, they are also twice the price ). The dresses that were being sold with the Castle package at the BBB were the standard dresses, although my understanding is that you can "upgrade" your dress selection to a deluxe dress for an additional price (Lord knows how much that would be, though - LOL ). We did let The Big wear the dress to the park because we had CRT that morning, but it was so pouffy that she literally could not walk around in it so we took it off while we were touring. My DD is at an awkward growth stage, though, and we ended up buying her the Small (5/6) which was a bit too big. I'm hopeful that it will fit her perfectly for our upcoming September trip (although I hate to have the same dress in my pictures for this trip ).

Second question, maybe I missed something but why do you say that next time you will do your own land and sea package instead of the disney package? We are doing our second land and sea and just wondering if I should be doing something differently.

Yup - you read me right - I absolutely will *never* do a Land/Sea package again. My biggest problem with it was that we were sooooo incredibly rushed at the park, and literally had to make compromises at every turn. Three days on either end (cruise or parks, but especially the parks) just wasn't enough time for us. Also, there were some fabulous codes that came out before we left that would have worked for our days, but we weren't eligible because of the Land/Sea package. If we had booked separately, we would have been eligible. Literally the *only* perk of doing the Land/Sea is that you can check in for your cruise at the resort. Also, I didn't price it separately, but I am sure that for the amount that we spent, we could have gotten it cheaper by booking separately, notwithstanding the codes that were available. For us, I think that Disney is an either/or vacation - either 7+ days at the parks or a 7 day cruise and, while I would love to have 14 days straight to tour the World, that would be prohibitive from a cost and a work standpoint. So, we will probably switch off from now on because we all had so much fun at both. This year we are doing the parks and next year (for my 30th birthday) we will be doing the cruise. However, since you are doing your second land/sea, perhaps you found the secret to making it work?? Please do share!! For us, it just was rush, rush, rush, always thinking about the next "big thing" and always thinking about what we were missing.


Thanks for sharing your vacation with us.

Thank you so much for reading - if you think of anything else, ask away.

 

[2cutekidz]

Your DD looks beautiful in her princess dress, but my favorite picture is of her on the carousel! Loving your TR so far...can't wait to hear about the rest - especially the cruise!

 

[CruisinEars]

I agree with 2cutekidz, I love the carousel picture of your adorable little girl.

Enjoying the tr so far. Can't wait to read more.

 

[solgent]

I'm enjoying your report! Your daughter is adorable. Can you please explain all about the photoshoot? Did she set up all the poses & locations? That seems like a great deal, and I would love more details.

 

[pammyjsb]

Thanks for the info on the dress. I found a deluxe dress that I love on the internet but it's $80 plus 10 for shipping. I just can't get myself to pull the trigger to spend that much on a dress yet. But maybe your pics inpired me as they are beautiful. They are only going to be young once right? I'd probably buy my DD's a 5/6 also so she could wear it for halloween.

As for our Land/Sea experience, we loved the vacation but you are beyond correct about feeling rushed. My DS was only 5 at the time and he was so tired he missed the fireworks every night, couldn't stay awake long enough. I always tell everyone after 3 days at the parks a per NEEDS a Disney Cruise to recover. I thought maybe it was just us that rushed around everywhere trying to see everything. I did read a trip report where one family just hung out at the hotel on their land portion most days and saved the park passes for another day. I don't know how to do that and we live too far away to think we can get back in a certain time window. We just cram it all in.

I do like checking in for the cruise at the hotel. That is nice.

Another complaint is that my DCL reservation number doesn't work on the Disney resort and park web sites. I was in there yesterday trying to put together some reservations and I haven't figured that out yet. I'm going to call today. I must have a separate # I need to access the land portion of it.

I think next time we will do a 7 day cruise. We would have done a 7 day cruise this time except we wanted DD4 to get to experience the Parks while she is at this princess stage. Give her a couple more years with two big brothers and she's going to be a huge tomboy. You should see her dribble a basketball!

If we ever decide to go back to a 4 day cruise, I will certainly look into doing the land portion on my own for more flexibility. I've always assumed Disney gave us a big $$$ break with the package.

Looking forward to the rest of the trip report. Thanks so much!!!

 

[Disney owl]

great report thanks for sharing

 

[sftnslky]

Okay - let me try and explain. If you want to make multiple quotes, highlight the portion of the text that you want to quote and click the multi-quote "button." The button will turn red. Then, keep going through and highlighting the various things you want to respond to and hit the multi-quote button each time. When you are done, hit the Reply button and window will be brought up which will allow you to respond to each person. It's easy and great. GOOD LUCK!

Ok I finally found the multi quote button, and see it turn red when I highlight, but I am sooo not understanding where the reply button is?? Please oh Please help me

 

[Crystal_27]

Your DD looks beautiful in her princess dress, but my favorite picture is of her on the carousel! Loving your TR so far...can't wait to hear about the rest - especially the cruise!

I agree with 2cutekidz, I love the carousel picture of your adorable little girl.

Thank you both. That one is most definitely one of my favorites, although I wish I would have closed my aperture down a bit so her horse would have been in focus.

I'm enjoying your report! Your daughter is adorable. Can you please explain all about the photoshoot? Did she set up all the poses & locations? That seems like a great deal, and I would love more details.

The photoshoot *was* a great deal (I just wish we would have been on time ). Since we prepaid our PhotoPass (which cost $99), the cost for the shoot was only $30. The CM asked us when we reserved the photoshoot whether or not we had the prepaid PhotoPass, and we did have to supply the confirmation to Faith (our photog) when we first checked in for the shoot. If we wouldn't have prepaid the PhotoPass, I believe that it would have been $50 for the sitting fee and then another $90 for the CD containing the pictures. When we were done with the shoot, Faith gave us the same card that every other Disney PhotoPass photographer uses and we uploaded them the same way. We could also add borders and other fun stuff, just like with the regular PhotoPass pictures.

Faith did indeed set up all of the poses and locations, although she was very open to our wishes (i.e., she guessed that we wanted Christmas card-type pictures since we were all wearing matching outfits). Faith took about 60 pictures, but there were probably only 20 of them that were properly exposed and framed. The exposure thing isn't a big deal for me, though, because I have PhotoShop so I could easily fix those that were underexposed. I just really thought that for the money and for the quality of pictures we received, it was a wonderful deal. Faith even mentioned that the photoshoot may branch out to the other resorts, so it sounds like Disney intends to keep it. Anyway, sorry for the ramble - please feel free to ask anything else.

Thanks for the info on the dress. I found a deluxe dress that I love on the internet but it's $80 plus 10 for shipping. I just can't get myself to pull the trigger to spend that much on a dress yet. But maybe your pics inpired me as they are beautiful. They are only going to be young once right? I'd probably buy my DD's a 5/6 also so she could wear it for halloween.

As for our Land/Sea experience, we loved the vacation but you are beyond correct about feeling rushed. My DS was only 5 at the time and he was so tired he missed the fireworks every night, couldn't stay awake long enough. I always tell everyone after 3 days at the parks a per NEEDS a Disney Cruise to recover.

Another complaint is that my DCL reservation number doesn't work on the Disney resort and park web sites.

Pammy, I know what you mean about the dresses - I could have bought all of them. I paid full price for the Cindy dress, and I wanted to throw up when I saw it at The Disney Store on clearance after Halloween for a mere $35! They DO go on sale - you just have to keep an eye out. I actually got The Big a Belle Christmas dress (also a deluxe) for only $40 at the same time I bought the Cindy dress so I felt great about that (and Belle's Christmas dress is just stunningly beautiful - my absolute favorite, by far). Also, I get two 15% off coupons from The Disney Store every month or so, and I'll be happy to give you one of the codes if you would like. The codes only last for a month, but I get a new set just as the old set is expiring, so I always have them on hand. Just let me know and I'll email you the code. They are good for 15% off your entire purchase, which always get me in trouble.

I'm glad to hear that we weren't the only ones that felt rushed, but I totally agree that the cruise portion really did immediately relieve us of the stress of touring the parks. As far as the DCL confirmation not working on the WDW website, I agree that that is a source of frustration - it never made sense to me either.

And, I totally agree that you have to take advantage of the princess stage at all costs - I dread the time when The Big grows out of it.

great report thanks for sharing

Thank you so much for reading, Disney owl!!

 

[Crystal_27]

Ok I finally found the multi quote button, and see it turn red when I highlight, but I am sooo not understanding where the reply button is?? Please oh Please help me

Oh, okay - you're more than halfway there then. If you scroll down to the very bottom of the last post, there is a "Post Reply" button on the left hand side. Once you hit the Post Reply button, a new window will pop up and it will allow you to type in your replies to everyone that you have highlighted. Then, hit the "Submit Reply" button like normal. GOOD LUCK - you're close!!!

 

[pammyjsb]

Okay, that makes me feel much better to know someone else gets pain in the belly when they pay full price and see it cheaper later. I'm going to have to make a trip to the Disney Store to see if I can find anything I like on clearance. Right now I'm not finding anything on Disneystore.com that I like except the $149 princess dress from the movie Enchanted. Even with 15% off, that's still pretty high for a dress.

If I find something I like on the DisneyStory.com, I'll take you up on the offer to share your code.

Love your thread.

 

[2cutekidz]

The multi quote button is the button with the quote marks and the + sign. After you've chosen all of the posts you want click on the Quote button. You can then insert your replies after each quote.

 

[dizziedupbaby0127]

Hi Everyone! I’m new to this posting thing, so I hope I do it right.
My fiancé and I, are getting married December 5th, and are planning on honeymooning at Disney, we will be 21 and 22. We have been looking into the Land/Sea vacations. I am a fanatic planner, and need to find every piece of information I can. I have a few questions; I couldn’t find the answers to, for all you Land/Sea veterans.
1) When booking a land/sea vacation, you get to pick your hotel, but is there a way to pick your room in the hotel, or/and when do they tell you what kind of room you will have?
We were leaning towards either the Poly or Swan & Dolphin (we would be Cat. 5 on the ship). Would we get to pick if we want to be in the Swan or the Dolphin? Or what building for the Poly? Does anyone know if there is a standard type of resort room that comes with the Cat 5?
2) I’ve heard that some of you think it is better to book separately, but looking into the prices it seems more expensive? Suggestions?
I really wanted to stay in the Contempory resort, but it is not listed as part of the land/sea package.

Thanks!
And I love your trip report and I’m looking forward to reading more!

 

[wallyb]

Totaly addicted to your TR now...thanks!
Question follows

I knew that Palo was a must do (I wanted Palo for dinner on our actual anniversary – 12/12), but I also knew that Palo was a VERY hot ticket, especially since concierge guests and Castaway Club members get first crack at everything. I therefore knew that getting up at midnight to reserve our cruise plans was mandatory. One of the things that surprised me about Dreams Unlimited was that they didn’t offer to book anything related to the cruise. That was fine with me (because I knew that insisting that my TA get up at midnight to book Palo might make her a bit hostile) but I kept expecting some sort of request in that regard. So, I guess a word of caution would be to make sure if you are using Dreams (or perhaps any TA?) that you plan to make your own cruise plans - - better safe than sorry, right? Anyway, getting up and midnight and booking Palo and an exotic rasual (more about that later) went off without a hitch.

We've got a very similar land sea booked as well with Dreams Unlimited
and wanted to ask about this midnight Palo booking - they're up at midnight to take bookings? Special number to call?

Thanks again for the report
Can't wait for more!

 

[pammyjsb]

Congrats on your upcoming wedding. Sounds like you guys are going to have a great honeymoon - nothing better than Disney.

I am certainly not an expert but we are returning for our second land/sea trip in April. Just to give you our input, on our first land/sea we did a cat 5 and stayed at the Poly. LOVED the Poly. We didn't reserve our room ahead of time but they treated us right (without even asking) and gave us a room overlooking the lake and looking right at the Disney Castle! Night time was the best, we'd just sit on our beds or on the deck and watch the fireworks. Our DS was only 5 at the time and he was alway sleeping by fireworks time.

I'm not sure if we were just lucky or if they try to give DCL folks nice room. Also, the tram to MK is the best. It was so nice just to jump on and go. We took the bus to Animal Kingdom and some other places. That was nice but not as nice as the MK tram ride. The Contempory would be nice to get picked up in the lobby, but I've read complaints about noise on other Dis boards.

This trip we are staying at the Beach Club. Going in a bit warmer weather so we thought we'd do more of a pool hotel. Our first trip was in Feb and the pool was beyond freezing - YIKES! Hoping for warmer water both on the cruise and at the pools this trip.

As far as the package or not, I can't give an opinion on that. I guess I'm a salesman's dream and just book what's easy. If I worked harder could probably save some $$.

Good luck and hope this helps.

Pam

 

[pammyjsb]

Okay, we booked directly with DCL both times so I'm not positive about booking with Dreams. However, based on what I've read from other posters, I THINK you can still book Palo and excursions through the DCL web site. The midnight reservation people (myself included) get up at midnight (eastern time) on the first day they can book reservations to get the reservations they want.
For example, the DCL website showed that I could make reservations on Jan 21, 2008. This was the 90 day mark for us as Castaway members and our cruise was paid in full. So me, being the loyal DIS person, knew that I could make my reservation at 11 pm (we live in WI) on Jan 20. Stayed up that night (actually it was easy to be awake as I was too upset about the Packers losing to the Giants) and booked our Palo res and a couple of excursions.

See if you can access DCL reservation on line yet. Or ask Dreams when you'll be able to do that. Personally, I'd rather do my own on-line reservations than bother with someone else in the middle.

Hope that helps.

 

[Crystal_27]

Hi Everyone! I’m new to this posting thing, so I hope I do it right.

1) When booking a land/sea vacation, you get to pick your hotel, but is there a way to pick your room in the hotel, or/and when do they tell you what kind of room you will have?

We were leaning towards either the Poly or Swan & Dolphin (we would be Cat. 5 on the ship). Would we get to pick if we want to be in the Swan or the Dolphin? Or what building for the Poly? Does anyone know if there is a standard type of resort room that comes with the Cat 5?

First of all, congratulations on your upcoming wedding. How exciting!! I don't think that there is any way to really predict your hotel room, other than to know that you will be staying in the "standard" (non-concierge) level. For that Poly, that means a "Garden View" room. I don't know about the Swan/Dolphin choices - I wanted to stay on a Disney owned hotel so those weren't on my radar (even though they look like incredible hotels).

2) I’ve heard that some of you think it is better to book separately, but looking into the prices it seems more expensive? Suggestions?
I really wanted to stay in the Contempory resort, but it is not listed as part of the land/sea package.

I don't know if it's always the case that booking separately is cheaper, but it would have been in our case, even before Disney released room discount codes for December. I think that it's just all about when you cruise. If you cruise during an off peak time, I definitely think that you will get it cheaper by booking separately; probably no so much during the summer or holiday times. I know that for the 7 day cruise we are looking at in 2009 there is a $3,500 difference in price between July and October, which seems just astounding to me. I do think, however, that you see more of a discount with the Land/Sea package by booking the cruise Category that allows you to choose from the Deluxe hotels, especially when the Polynesian is an available choice (because the Poly's per night cost is at minimum $340 and is the most expensive of the available Land/Sea hotels). I hope that clears up your question but if not please feel free to hit me with more. Glad to have you aboard on this TR - thanks for reading.

Totaly addicted to your TR now...thanks!
Question follows

We've got a very similar land sea booked as well with Dreams Unlimited
and wanted to ask about this midnight Palo booking - they're up at midnight to take bookings? Special number to call?

Thanks again for the report
Can't wait for more!

Oh, thank you for reading. I'm having so much fun reliving our trip through my TR.

As far as your question, I think that I may have muddied the waters a bit. Dreams Unlimited does not book anything related to your crusie - you have to do that directly through the Disney Cruise Line website when your 75-day window opens. If you go to www.disneycruise.com there is a link that allows you to view and add your cruise plans. Just use your Disney confirmation number to pull up your reservation. Everything will be locked down until your 75-day window opens and then, magically, at midnight of the 75th day, you get the ability to actually book everything. Palo brunch went first (it wasn't even available online for anyone at the 75-day mark) but the Palo dinner was still available. You can also book your excursions and spa reservations at that time as well. I would highly recommend getting familiar with the Disney Cruise Line website so you can navigate it easily when your window opens. Anyway, sorry if I confused you. Good luck with your reservations!!

 

[Crystal_27]

I am certainly not an expert but we are returning for our second land/sea trip in April. Just to give you our input, on our first land/sea we did a cat 5 and stayed at the Poly. LOVED the Poly. We didn't reserve our room ahead of time but they treated us right (without even asking) and gave us a room overlooking the lake and looking right at the Disney Castle! Night time was the best, we'd just sit on our beds or on the deck and watch the fireworks. Our DS was only 5 at the time and he was alway sleeping by fireworks time.

Well, Pam just totally confirmed with this statement that there really must not be any rhyme or reason to your room assignments. I know that the room we first had assigned to us (before we had to get it changed because of the photoshoot timing) had a patio, so perhaps Land/Sea folks do get some preference? I really don't know for sure. I bet it was just heavenly being able to watch the fireworks from your balcony.

 

[pammyjsb]

Hey Crystal, HI!! Another dress question for you. I'm looking at a 5/6 Disney dress for my DD. My little one is very skinny, only 30 pounds but she's 40 inches high. For clothes I buy size 5 to give her enough length but they have to have an adjustable waist. How big was Big when you did your vacation on how big was the 5/6 on her. In the pics it looks really good but I just wanted your opinion.

Man, I wish I worked on my bookwork and taxes as much as I work on my Disney Cruise. Thank goodness I'm self employed!!!!!

 

[Crystal_27]

Hey Crystal, HI!! Another dress question for you. I'm looking at a 5/6 Disney dress for my DD. My little one is very skinny, only 30 pounds but she's 40 inches high. For clothes I buy size 5 to give her enough length but they have to have an adjustable waist. How big was Big when you did your vacation on how big was the 5/6 on her. In the pics it looks really good but I just wanted your opinion.

Man, I wish I worked on my bookwork and taxes as much as I work on my Disney Cruise. Thank goodness I'm self employed!!!!!

Hey girly - I hear ya about the taxes thing - I've been reconciling my little heart out for DH's business for the past couple of weeks. Quickbooks is yelling at me to please give it a break!!

My DD is also 40 inches but weighs right at 40 pounds. Even with her height, she was still stepping all over the dress. I don't know if it's because the deluxe dresses are just exceptionally pouffy, but it was definitely too long to be worn when she was walking around. The dress was just a tiny bit loose everywhere else. I honestly think that ALL of the 5/6 Disney costumes are in actuality just a 6. We had the same problem with the Elizabeth Swan costume - - we couldn't even use the pants that came with it; the tunic came to her calves and we just put on some tights underneath it to keep her warm.

For a frame of reference, we buy her either a size 4.5 (available with JC Penny's Arizona brand) or 5 everywhere else. The 4.5s fit her the best, but the 5s will fit her length but are droopy in the waist. My *hope* is that the 5/6 dresses will fit her perfectly for our September trip since I'm sure she'll grow a couple of inches before then (maybe even 4 inches so we can ride EE - LOL). Honestly, buying clothes for The Big just confounds me - I never know what size to buy her. Oh well, just another way that she keeps me on my toes.

 

[pammyjsb]

That sounds like a great plan to wear the dress again in the Fall. I'm thinking Destiny will be able to wear a 5/6 now (will be big) and again for Halloween. With our trip being a couple months out from now, I'd even be able to have it taken in and up a little bit.

Thanks for the size comparison. Shopping for girls is so much fun. My first two were boys and big boys at that. Now I have this little petite daughter and it's a whole new world.

Have a good day. I better get some work done before DH catches me messing around again!!

Pam